Gender (Ch. 8)

Question 1

Gender

Answer 1

• socially constructed/not biological

- culturally variant behaviours that express masculinity or femininity

Question 2

Sexuality

Answer 2

The collection of sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions, and preferences experienced by humans

Question 3

Heteronormative (heterosexual hegemony)

Answer 3

belief that people fall into 2 distinct genders (male and female) and that heterosexuality is the only normal sexuality

Question 4

Transgender

Answer 4

A person whose self-definition challenges and disrupts traditional binary concepts and boundaries of gender and sexuality

Question 5

Gendered

Answer 5

• social processes have determined what is appropriately masculine or feminine for a particular phenomena
• such phenomena often appear natural (ie. Marriage, androcentric jobs, family roles, etc.) -> different forms of power

Question 6

Sexism

Answer 6

Structured inequality between men and women and the norms and practices that uphold such inequality

Question 7

Heterosexism

Answer 7

A system of institutional and cultural beliefs, norms, and practices that give advantages to heterosexuals

Question 8

Homophobia

Answer 8

Fear of lesbians, gays, transgender people, etc.

Question 9

Sex

Answer 9

• Biological male/female
• constructed
• binary

Question 10

Dichotomy of gender

Answer 10

Someone is either cisgender or transgender

Question 11

Gender inequality in the developed world

Answer 11

• lack of women in politics
• women paid less than men
• high rates of sexual assault against women

Question 12

Gender inequality in developing countries

Answer 12

• women’s health is worse
• women often raped and killed
• women often illiterate
• female babies aborted

Question 13

Gender inequality globally

Answer 13

Across the world, women and girls die at a faster rate than men

Question 14

Gender timeline

Answer 14

Hunting/gathering period: gender symmetry -> agrarian/feudal: patriarchy -> industrial period: formal equality -> post-industrial: gender and sexual diversity

Question 15

3 reasons for gender inequality

Answer 15

• biology determines gender roles
• gendered socialization
• structural conditions

Question 16

Reason 1 for gender inequality: biology determines gender roles

Answer 16

• biological determinism
• women = nurturers, men = leaders
• society best organized in gender spheres (private and public) -> div of labour between men and women is natural, not imposed

Question 17

Reason 2 for gender inequality: gendered socialization

Answer 17

• process through which different and often unequal gender roles are transmitted
• boys and girls internalize gender role expectations -> aspire to gendered occupations, perform gender roles in relationships, etc.
• socialization maintains inequality, but doesn’t explain it

Question 18

Reason 3 for gendered inequality: structural conditions

Answer 18

• patriarchy is a sex and class-based system of male power sustained through law and culture (radical feminist viewpoint)
• capitalist class system of private property -> “the personal is political” -> women’s unpaid work in the home (socialist feminist viewpoint)

Question 19

Why are order theories/radical feminism theoretically incomplete?

Answer 19

They cannot account for diversity amongst men and women

Question 20

Agrarian economy’s influence on gender inequality

Answer 20

• collective land use to familial land ownership -> families owned private property
• emergence of monogamous patriarchal family and laws to protect lineage and profits -> men wanted to ensure that their land was passed down to their legitimate children -> women had no rights of property ownership, harsh punishments for adultery, not considered legal persons
• religions give privilege to men and male gods -> witchcraft demonized, deemed crazy women
• women’s role in owning class was in domestic sphere, child rearing and providing legitimate offspring to inherit property
• women’s role in working class (or if they were racialized: had no status, simply workers

Question 21

Industrialization

Answer 21

• formal gender equality
• women able to work -> demands for paid rights followed
• restrictions placed on women’s paid work -> lower rate, pregnancy, racialized women

Question 22

Gender differences: benefits to capitalism

Answer 22

• keeps wages low, downward pressure
• unpaid women’s labour in domestic sphere creates workers for capitalism
• reinforces gender differences and creates products for each

Question 23

Gender and power

Answer 23

• gender differences justify gender inequality

- proximal power & status: men have higher status and greater ACCESS to power

Question 24

Gender and private troubles & public issues (distal & proximal relations)

Answer 24

• distal relationships: calling women sluts, saying they lie about rape; cultural practices; hypersexualized media images
• proximal relationships: domestic violence; date rape; sexual harassment

Question 25

Definitions of masculinity

Answer 25

• don’t be girly, don’t be gay
• don’t show emotions
• be dominant, controlling, in charge
• using violence to solve problems
• be athletic
• have economic success and sexual conquest

Question 26

Origins of sexism and homophobia

Answer 26

• social hierarchy with though guys on top and feminine men & women on the bottom
• boys are taught that it’s not okay to be feminine -> lack of respect for women